Swivel outlet for sprayer or the like

ABSTRACT

A swivel outlet for a sprayer discharge tube or the like is provided. The outlet includes two housings, one of which includes a cylindrical recessed portion and the other of which includes a cylindrical portion adapted to rotatably mate within the recess. A passageway is provided which interconnects a discharge tube, connected to one of the housings, with a nozzle outlet connected to the other housing. A key and keyway are formed on each of the housings to removably couple the housings together.

United States Patent lochmann et a]. July 8, 1975 54] SWIVEL OUTLET FORSPRAYER OR THE 2,564,058 8/l95l Fletcher et al 239/587 X LIKE 2,762,6369/1956 Bergman.......

3,030,128 4/l962 Versen 285/282 x 75] Inventors: Carl E. Bochmann,Brecksville;

'f cemustkat Middleburg Primary xaminer--M. Henson Wood, Jr. both of OhmAssistant ExaminerJohn J. Love '3] Assignee: H. D. Hudson ManufacturingAlwmey, 8 l Firm-Kane Dalsimcl', Kane.

Company, Chicago, n Sullivan and Kurucz .2] Filed. Mar. 29, 1974 [57]ABSTRACT 11] A9131 N03 456,010 A swivel outlet for a sprayer dischargetube or the like is provided. The outlet includes two housings, one of 2us. Cl. 239/587; 285/184; 285/273 which includcs a cylindrical rcccsscdPorticn and the 1 1m. Cl Bosh 15/08 other of which includes acylindrical Portion adapted 8] Fidd f Search 235 7 27 33, 232, 8 torotatably mate within the recess. A passageway is 2 5 D[ 22' 239/537provided which interconnects a discharge tube, connected to one of thehousings, with a nozzle outlet 6] References Cited connected to theother housing. A key and keyway are UNITED STATES PATENTS formed on eachof the housings to removably couple the housings together. H 1,4468/1935 Judell 239/587 X 87,448 l0/ I945 Joiner 285/74 X 4 Claims, 4Drawing Figures SWIVEL OUTLET FOR SPRAYER OR THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to sprayers and moreparticularly to an improved swivel outlet for a sprayer discharge tube.

Sprayers are widely used to apply fungicides, fertilizer. etc. tovarious forms of vegetation. Such sprayers are often provided with aswivel head which facilitates directing the spray in any desireddirection. Oftentimes, the product to be sprayed comprises a suspensioncarried in a liquid medium. To prevent or relieve clogging and also toenable the sprayer to be used with a range of spray products withoutfear of contamination, the sprayer must be capable of being thoroughlycleaned. To this end, most sprayers are assembled so as to enable themto be readily disassembled.

Heretofore it has been somewhat of a problem to provide a swiveldischarge for a sprayer which could readily be assembled anddisassembled for cleaning without requiring the use of tools and withoutrequiring any special fasteners to hold the swivel components together.

In view of the above, it is the principal object of the presentinvention to provide an improved swivel outlet for a sprayer dischargetube which may readily and easily be disassembled and assembled forthorough cleaning to insure proper maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above and other beneficial objects andadvantages are attained in accordance with the present invention byproviding an improved swivel outlet for a spray discharge tube. Theoutlet includes two housings, one of which includes a cylindricalrecessed portion and the other of which includes a cylindrical portionadapted to rotatably mate within the recess. A passageway is providedwhich interconnects a discharge tube, connected to one of the housings,with a nozzle outlet connected to the other housing. A key and keywayare formed on each of the housings to removably couple the housingstogether.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a portable sprayer utilizing the swiveloutlet of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the sprayer discharge tube ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the present swivel outlet; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view indicating the manner in which thecomponents of the present swivel outlet may be disassembled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present inventionis illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein similar componentsbear the same reference numeral throughout the several figures. In FIG.1, a sprayer I is illustrated. The details of the sprayer constructionare described in the commonly assigned application Ser. No. 447,088filed on Mar. 1, 1974 for CORDLESS ELECTRIC SPRAYER. Suffice it to sayfor the present application, the sprayer includes a discharge tube 12provided at one end 14 with a swivel connection 16 connecting thedischarge tube with the sprayer internal components and at the other end18 with a swivel outlet 20 connecting the discharge tube with a nozzle22. The details of swivel outlets l6 and 20 are substantially identicaland although the following description is directed specifically atswivel outlet 20, it is equally applicable to swivel outlet 16.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that swivel outlet 20includes a first housing member 24 and a second housing member 26.Housing member 24 includes a recessed cylindrical portion 28 defined bycylindrical surfaces 30. A passageway 32 extends radially outwardly fromthe recess to an enlarged portion 34 designed to snugly receive end [8of the discharge tube 12. Passageway 32 interconnects with the hollowbore through the discharge tube thereby providing a path from thedischarge tube to the recess 28.

The second housing member 26 includes a raised cylindrical portion 36dimensioned to snugly fit into the upper part 38 of recess 28. A groove40 is provided about cylindrical portion 36 and an O-ring 42 seats inthe groove to seal the cylindrical portion while permitting rotation ofthe second housing with respect to the first housing about the commonaxis of the two cylindrical portions.

As shown in FIG. 3, a passage 44 extends axially along the cylindricalportion 36 of housing member 26. The housing communicates with a secondpassage 46 extending radially through the cylindrical portion andterminating at an exterior surface of the housing. The passage 46 passesthrough an enlarged portion 48 of the housing which extends transverseto the cylindrical portion 36. The end 50 of portion 48 is provided witha threaded fitting 52 adapted to receive a threaded portion 54 of nozzle22. An O-ring 56 insures a proper seal between the nozzle and fitting.Thus, a fluid passageway is provided from the bore of discharging tube12 through the radial passage 32 to recess 28 of the first housingmember. The fluid passageway then continues through the axial passage 44and radial passage 46 of the second housing to the outlet for nozzle 22.The first and second housings are rotatable with respect to one anotherwith the second housing cylindrical portion 36 sealingly seated withinthe recess of the first housing thereby permitting the second housingand nozzle 22 to swivel as desired with respect to the first housingmember.

The first and second housing members are removably coupled to each otherby means of a set of keys and associated keyways. Accordingly, a key 58affixed to the first housing member extends outwardly from the member.The key includes an inturned portion 60 adapted to snugly fit over thesecond housing as shown in FIG. 3. Similarly, a key 62 is affixed to thesecond housing member and includes an inturned portion adapted tooverlie portions of the first housing so that the housings aresandwiched between the inturned portions of the keys and secured to oneanother.

As shown best in FIG. 4, each of the housings includes a keyway in theform of a slot. Accordingly, housing member 24 is provided with slot 66and housing member 26 is provided with slot 68. The slots 66 and 68 arein registry with one another so that key member 58 will align with slot68 when key member 62 aligns with slot 66. When the key members are intheir associated slots, the components of the swivel outlet may readilybe disassembled by merely pulling them apart as shown in FIG. 4. Theinterior of the swivel and nozzle may then be readily cleaned andunclogged. The swivel outlet may be reassembled by realigning the keysin their associated keyways and thereafter swiveling the housings sothat the keys and keyways are out of alignment in the position shown inFIG. 3. To prevent the inadvertent alignment of the keys and keywaysduring use of the sprayer, a detent is provided on each housing whichmust be overcome before the position of H6. 4 can be attained.

Thus, in accordance with the above, the aforementioned objects areeffectively attained.

Having thus described the invention. what is claimed l. A swivel outletfor a sprayer discharge tube or the like comprising: a first housingmember, a recessed cylindrical portion defined by surfaces of said firsthousing, a radial passageway extending through said surfaces to saidrecess, a second housing member, a cylindrical portion of said secondhousing sealingly mated for rotation within said recess, first passagemeans extending axially through said cylindrical portion to communicatewith said recess, second passage means communicating with said firstpassage means and extending transversely thereto; and, means forremovably coupling said first and second housing members, said couplingmeans comprising a key affixed to one of said housings and a keyway inthe other of said housings, said key including portions adapted tooverlie portions of said other housing.

2. The swivel outlet in accordance with claim I further comprising adischarge nozzle connected to one end of one of said radial or secondpassageway and means for interconnection with said discharge tubeconnected to the other of said passageways.

3. The swivel outlet in accordance with claim 2 wherein each of saidfirst and second housings includes a key and a keyway. said firsthousing key being adapted to pass through said second housing keyway tooverlie portions of said second housing and said second housing keybeing adapted to pass through said first housing keyway to overlieportions of said first housing whereby to removably couple said firstand second housing members.

4. The swivel outlet in accordance with claim 2 wherein said keyincludes a first portion extending parallel to said associatedcylindrical portion axis and a second portion extending radiallyinwardly, transverse to said axis.

1. A swivel outlet for a sprayer discharge tube or the like comprising:a first housing member, a recessed cylindrical portion defined bysurfaces of said first housing, a radial passageway extending throughsaid surfaces to said recess, a second housing member, a cylindricalportion of said second housing sealingly mated for rotation within saidrecess, first passage means extending axially through said cylindricalportion to communicate with said recess, second passage meanscommunicating with said first passage means and extending transverselythereto; and, means for removably coupling said first and second housingmembers, said coupling means comprising a key affixed to one of saidhousings and a keyway in the other of said housings, said key includingportions adapted to overlie portions of said other housing.
 2. Theswivel outlet in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a dischargenozzle connected to one end of one of said radial or second passagewayand means for interconnection with said discharge tube connected to theother of said passageways.
 3. The swivel outlet in accordance with claim2 wherein each of said first and second housings includes a key and akeyway, said first housing key being adapted to pass through said secondhousing keyway to overlie portions of said second housing and saidsecond housing key being adapted to pass through said first housingkeyway to overlie portions of said first housing whereby to removablycouple said first and second housing members.
 4. The swivel outlet inaccordance with claim 2 wherein said key includes a first portionextending parallel to said associated cylindrical portion axis and asecond portion extending radially inwardly, transverse to said axis.